Delhi's water supply to be restored to full capacity in 2 weeks

The canal was damaged by Jat protesters in Haryana.

Delhi's water supply to be restored to full capacity in 2 weeks Picture: Slum dwellers carry drinking water containers which they filled from a water tanker provided by the state-run Delhi Jal (water) Board on a hot summer day in New Delhi, India, May 11, 2015.Reuters

It will reportedly take at least two weeks for the national capital's water supply to be restored in entirety after the Munak canal in Haryana was damaged by Jat protesters. The canal accounts for 45 percent of Delhi's water supply.

The Army on Monday took control of the canal and supply was expected to be restored by evening. However, supply was delayed as protesters moved upstream to Khubru village and blocked the canal again.

"Due to major leakages in the sub-branch, losses of 25% are expected. However, we will now not even get water through that until the protesters are flushed out of Khubru. Munak canal, meanwhile, is seriously damaged. Haryana has communicated to Delhi that repair work may take almost a fortnight and can be carried out only under army security," sources told The Times of India.

Water has now been released from the canal, which will come as a relief to people in North, Central and West Delhi, tweeted Delhi's water minister Kapil Mishra Tuesday. The crisis had affected 10 million people, reports BBC.

The Delhi Jal Board has begun some production at Wazirabad, Chandrawal and Okhla treatment plants, reports TOI. The three treatment plants use raw Yamuna water, in which the level of ammonia Monday was greater than the permissible limit at 1.3 parts per million (ppm) against 0.5 ppm.

"While 0.5 ppm is permissible, we can scale down production and carry out treatment up to 1.3 ppm. In this case too, we started partial production at 1.3 ppm but by evening ammonia levels had dropped to 0.9 ppm, allowing us to increase production," a senior DJB official told TOI.

With authorities hoping to restore 50 percent of Delhi's water supply, schools reopened Tuesday. Schools were shut Monday, as Delhi had stopped receiving water from the neighbouring conflict ridden state. However, water tankers, stored water and mineral water bottles were being used by the citizens in the state, except by East Delhi and parts of South Delhi.

The Jat community in Haryana started violent protests in the state demanding Other Backward Classes (OBC) quota, which had earlier been struck down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. Violence in the state left at least 16 dead, 150 injured and led to massive losses to property.